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| Old Swinford | |
|---|---|
 Parish Church of St Mary | |
  Old Swinford Location within the West Midlands | |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | West Midlands |
| Fire | West Midlands |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
Oldswinford or Old Swinford [1] is an area south of the centre of Stourbridge, in the Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands, England.
Originally, Oldswinford was an extensive ancient parish, covering the whole of the former Municipal Borough of Stourbridge except Pedmore. This included Wollaston, Lye, and Norton (which were part of the same manor), but Stourbridge and Amblecote, while in the parish, were separate manors. Amblecote was formerly in Staffordshire, but the rest of the parish (south of the River Stour) was in Worcestershire. Both Stourbridge and Amblecote were formerly administered separately from the rest of Oldswinford. The parish was abolished in 1866 as part of a reorganisation of the local government of Stourbridge. [2] [3] In 1831 the parish had a population of 13,874. [4]
The manor of Old Swinford changed hands from time to time during the Middle Ages as a result of political upheavals and the changes of fortune of its overlords. It is questionable whether these great feudal lords ever visited this manor, the supervision of the peasants' customary service and the collection of dues and fines being left to their stewards. Edward VI gave a grant for the foundation of a school in 1553. The Lytteltons, seated a few miles away at Frankley until their house there was destroyed during the Civil War causing them to move to Hagley, acquired the superior manor of Old Swinford in 1564 and they were the dominant local family until the 17th century when, having fallen from favour and lost much of their wealth through involvement in the Gunpowder Plot and the Royalist and Roman Catholic causes in Stuart times, they were superseded by the Foleys whose wealth was based on the rapidly expanding iron industry.
The name was sometimes formerly written Old Swinford. This spelling is still used for Old Swinford Hospital, a voluntary-aided school with boarding houses, founded and endowed by the ironmaster, Thomas Foley. The parish name and that of Kingswinford derive from a swine ford, perhaps on the crossing of the Stour that also gave rise to the name Stourbridge. The road crossing there was the main road between the Saxon burhs of Worcester and Stafford. [5] However (conceivably), it was a crossing of the minor brook that runs east of the church and under Brook Road between the houses 2 (The Briars) and 4 (The Willows), Oldswinford.
The tower of St Mary's Church is from the late 14th century but the rest of the church was rebuilt in the 19th century. [6]
There are numerous pre-1900 buildings remaining in Oldswinford. The area has been heavily developed with upmarket private housing since the 1920s.
Oldbury is a market town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It is the administrative centre of the borough. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 13,606, while the 2017 population of the wider built-up area was estimated at 25,488. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, which defines Oldbury Town as consisting of the wards of Bristnall, Langley, Oldbury, and Old Warley, gave the population as 50,641 in 2011.
The Stour(, rhymes with "flour") is a river flowing through the counties of Worcestershire, the West Midlands and Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England. The Stour is a major tributary of the River Severn, and is about 25 miles (40 km) in length. It has played a considerable part in the economic history of the region.
Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, the town lies around 10 miles west of Birmingham. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 2011 UK census recorded the town's population as 63,298.
Kingswinford is a town of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the English West Midlands, situated 5 miles (8 km) west-southwest of central Dudley. In 2011 the area had a population of 25,191, down from 25,808 at the 2001 Census.
Amblecote is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge on the southwestern edge of the West Midlands conurbation. Historically, Amblecote was in the parish of Oldswinford, but unlike the rest of the parish it was in Staffordshire, and as such was administered separately. It borders Audnam, Quarry Bank and Wollaston.
Wollaston is a village on the outskirts of Stourbridge, in the south of the Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It is located one mile west of Stourbridge town centre.
Wordsley is a suburban village near Stourbridge in the West Midlands, England. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and is north of the River Stour. Wordsley is part of the Kingswinford and South Staffordshire Parliamentary constituency as of 2024. It is bordered by open Staffordshire countryside to the west, Kingswinford to the north, Brierley Hill to the east and Stourbridge to the south.
Lye or The Lye is a town in the Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands, England, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Stourbridge and borders with Pedmore and Wollescote.
Hagley is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is on the boundary of the West Midlands and Worcestershire counties between the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and Kidderminster. Its estimated population was 7,162 in 2019.
Cradley is a village in the Black Country and Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of the West Midlands, England, near Halesowen and the banks of the River Stour. Colley Gate is the name of the short road in the centre of Cradley. It was part of the ancient parish of Halesowen, but unlike much of the rest of that parish, which was an exclave of Shropshire, Cradley was always in Worcestershire, until the creation of the West Midlands county in 1974. This meant that for civil administrative purposes, Cradley formerly had the officers which a parish would have had. The population of the appropriate Dudley Ward taken at the 2011 census was 13,340.
The A491 is an A road in Zone 4 of the Great Britain numbering scheme.
Pedmore is a residential suburb of Stourbridge, in the Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands, England bordering Lye, Wollescote and Oldswinford. It was originally a village in the Worcestershire countryside until extensive housebuilding during the interwar years saw it gradually merged into Stourbridge. The population of the appropriate Dudley Ward taken at the 2011 census was 12,471.
Lapal is a residential area of Halesowen, in the Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands of England. It is situated in the east of the town on the border with Birmingham. The Lapal area sits to the East of the Lapal Canal, to the North of Lapal Lane South up to what is now the M5 motorway, to the South West of Carters Lane and Kent Road, and to the South East of Mucklow Hill. Most of the houses were built between 1930 and 1980. In the late 1970s the large Abbeyfields estate was built alongside the currently disused portion of the Dudley Canal, adding to its already extensive owner-occupier housing stock.
Wollescote is a residential area of Stourbridge, in the Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It falls within the ward of Cradley and Wollescote and the parliamentary constituency of Halesowen.
Lutley is a hamlet near Halesowen in the Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands, England. Lutley Mill is nearby in Halesowen and is also the name of a local pub. Lutley Mill is situated on Puddings Brook. The Lutley Gutter runs through Lutley. In 1951 the parish had a population of 457.
Old Swinford Hospital is a secondary boarding school in Oldswinford, Stourbridge, West Midlands, England that has been in continuous operation since the 17th century. It is one of 36 state boarding schools in England, meaning school fees are funded by the LEA and pupils only pay boarding fees. Girls are admitted into the sixth form as day pupils. Girls have been admitted from year 7 onwards, from 2021.
Halfshire was one of the hundreds in the English county of Worcestershire. As three of the five hundreds in the county were jurisdictions exempt from the authority of the sheriff, the hundred was considered to be half what was subject to his jurisdiction, whence the name.
Norton is a suburb and council ward in the town of Stourbridge, West Midlands. It has a population of 11,943 in an area of 569 hectares. The population is largely White British and self-identifies as predominantly Christian.
Robert Pierson was rector of St Mary's, Oldswinford, Worcestershire.